Monday, July 07, 2008

Great Moments in Botched Perspective

I pointed out a couple months ago, the 3/4 shot where an onlooker to the panel provided us with a visual clue so that we could determine the relative distances and sizes of objects in the background. But what happens when that perspective gets botched somehow? Here are a couple of classic examples:Yes, come back Bob! I don't love this four-foot tall guy standing behind me in the bathrobe! One of the problems here is that it's hard to tell who's the freak; the guy could be normal-sized and the woman could be a giant.

In Jimmy Olsen #61, he encounters a rather diminutive Lucy Lane:And no, thinking his girlfriend has become three feet tall is not what's making Jimmy question his sanity.

Commenter Ralph C. pointed out a couple of months ago the odd little man in the background of this panel from Action #239:I'll add more entries to this post as I find them. If you have some good ones, let me know!

Update: Here's a silly one from Lois Lane #3 (Aug 1958). Superman has been turned into a baby in Lois Lane #3, and she's convinced that she'll catch Clark Kent looking similarly infantile. But instead there's this:The perspective certainly makes it appear that Clark is significantly shorter than Lois, although the gag ending tells us that we're supposed to be amused at Clark's clothing despite finding him significantly taller than Lois.